Judge rejects Maricopa County recorder's request to block election systems audit

A Maricopa County judge rejected Recorder Justin Heap’s request to immediately block the Board of Supervisors from overseeing a third-party audit of the county’s voting systems.

Heap, who is suing the board as part of an ongoing power struggle over control of the county’s elections, filed the request after the board hired The Intersect Group to come up with a recommendation for the best way to split the complicated election management systems and databases shared by the Recorder’s Office and the Elections Department, which is overseen by the board of supervisors.

In court earlier this week, both sides agreed that an audit is necessary to resolve the conflict – but Heap’s attorneys told Judge Scott Blaney that state law gives the recorder, not the board, sole authority to order it.

Blaney’s decision released Thursday doesn’t resolve that broader issue.

But the judge did find that the Recorder’s Office failed to prove allegations that allowing the audit to continue for now would put voter data at risk.

James Rogers, an attorney for Heap, and staff from the Recorder’s Office argued in court that the board did not properly vet the contractor, which has some access to voter data, including Social Security numbers and information about the address confidentiality program.

That program helps victims of domestic violence, sexual assault and stalking keep their addresses out of public documents.

“The Court’s primary concern prior to the hearing was the safety and security of voters’ (personally identifiable information), particularly those voters whose information was contained on the Address Confidentiality Program … because they are victims of domestic violence,” Blaney wrote. “But the Court was credibly informed during the hearing that any ACP information was deleted from the system to which the third-party contractor has access during the assessment.”

Bryan Colby, the recorder’s chief information officer, argued that giving The Intersect Group access to county systems could make the county vulnerable to “logic bombs” and other attacks if an outside bad actor hacked the contractor, though county IT staff disputed those claims.

In denying the request to put an immediate halt to the audit, Blaney said he was satisfied with testimony from county officials about the security precautions they put in place, including removing the confidentiality information from the systems accessed by the contractor.

“Moreover, the Board and the third-party vendor entered into a comprehensive non-disclosure agreement and the vendor’s personnel have all received background checks, albeit conducted by the vendor,” the judge wrote.

In a statement, Board of Supervisors Chairman Thomas Galvin praised the decision.

“Today's ruling is a win for Maricopa County voters and anyone who values election integrity,” he said. “It confirms that the assessment is safe and being conducted in a manner that will allow the important work of elections to continue while protecting the security of voter information.”

Heap’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The order allows the audit to move forward for now, though it left the door open for Heap to continue to make the argument that his office, not the supervisors, should be overseeing the audit.

The full case is scheduled to go to trial in January.